(a) Possession necessary to recover real property. An action to recover real property or its possession cannot be commenced unless the plaintiff, or his predecessor in interest, was seized or possessed of the premises within ten years before the commencement of the action.
§ 212.Actions to be commenced within ten or fifteen years.
Article 2. Limitations of Time · Last amended 2022 · Last verified July 21, 2026
In one sentenceSets a ten-year limitations period for recovering real property (the basis of New York adverse-possession law), for challenging a voided state land patent, and for a mortgagor's right to redeem, alongside separate periods for support-fraud recoupment and trafficking-victim claims.
Full Text of CPLR 212
(b) Annulment of letters patent. Where letters patent or a grant of real property, issued or made by the state, are declared void on the ground of fraudulent suggestion or concealment, forfeiture, mistake or ignorance of a material fact, wrongful detaining or defective title, an action to recover the premises may be commenced by the state or by a subsequent patentee or grantee, or his successor in interest, within ten years after the determination is made.
(c) To redeem from a mortgage. An action to redeem real property from a mortgage with or without an account of rents and profits may be commenced by the mortgagor or his successors in interest, against the mortgagee in possession, or against the purchaser of the mortgaged premises at a foreclosure sale in an action in which the mortgagor or his successors in interest were not excluded from their interest in the mortgaged premises, or against a successor in interest of either, unless the mortgagee, purchaser or successor was continuously possessed of the premises for ten years after the breach or non-fulfillment of a condition or covenant of the mortgage, or the date of recording of the deed of the premises to the purchaser.
(d) To recover under an affidavit of support of a noncitizen. An action under section one hundred twenty-two of the social services law to recover amounts paid to or on behalf of a noncitizen for whom an affidavit of support pursuant to section 213A of the immigration and naturalization act has been signed.
(e) By a victim of sex trafficking, compelling prostitution, or labor trafficking. An action by a victim of sex trafficking, compelling prostitution, labor trafficking or aggravated labor trafficking, brought pursuant to subdivision (c) of section four hundred eighty-three-bb of the social services law, may be commenced within fifteen years after such victimization occurs provided, however, that such fifteen year period shall not begin to run and shall be tolled during any period in which the victim is or remains subject to such conduct.
Plain-English Summary
CPLR 212(a) sets the ten-year period a plaintiff, or their predecessor in title, must satisfy to recover real property or its possession — meaning the plaintiff or someone in their chain of title needs to have been seized or possessed of the property within the last ten years to bring the claim at all. That same ten-year period, working alongside the adverse-possession provisions in the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law, is what lets someone else's continuous, hostile possession for ten years ripen into ownership once the record owner's window to sue has closed. The period dropped from fifteen years under the former Civil Practice Act, and the drafters eliminated a longer period that had applied specifically to the state, putting the state's private real-property disputes on the same ten-year footing as everyone else's, subject to the state's own twenty-year period in CPLR 211(c) for its own affirmative suits.
Subdivision (b) gives the state, or a later patentee or grantee, ten years to sue to recover land after a state land patent or grant is declared void for fraud, forfeiture, mistake, or a defective title. Subdivision (c) gives a mortgagor, or their successor, ten years after breach of a mortgage condition, or after the recording of a foreclosure-sale deed, to bring an action to redeem the property from the mortgagee or a purchaser at foreclosure.
The remaining subdivisions address newer, unrelated claims folded into this section over time: a ten-year period to recover payments made on behalf of a noncitizen under an immigration affidavit of support, and a fifteen-year period for a victim of sex trafficking, compelled prostitution, or labor trafficking to sue — a period that doesn't even begin running while the victimization continues.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many years of possession does someone need to claim adverse possession in New York?
CPLR 212(a) requires the record owner, or their predecessor, to have been seized or possessed of the property within ten years before suing to recover it, and that same ten-year period is what allows a hostile possessor's continuous occupation to ripen into ownership once the owner's window closes.
How long does a mortgagor have to redeem property after a foreclosure sale?
CPLR 212(c) gives a mortgagor, or their successor, ten years after a breach of the mortgage's terms or after the recording of the foreclosure-sale deed to bring an action to redeem the property.
How long does a sex or labor trafficking victim have to sue their trafficker in New York?
CPLR 212(e) gives a trafficking victim fifteen years after the victimization to sue, and that period doesn't even start running while the victimization continues.
Does the ten-year real property period run against New York State the same way it runs against private owners?
Largely yes for claims defended by the state, though the state's own affirmative real-property claims run on the longer twenty-year period set out separately in CPLR 211(c).
Does CPLR 212 apply to easements as well as outright ownership claims?
The ten-year period in CPLR 212(a) governs actions to recover real property or its possession, and New York courts have long treated that same period as the basis for acquiring an easement by prescription through continuous, hostile use.
Advisory Committee Notes
Subd (a) is an adaptation of the first paragraph of CPA § 34. The subdivision reduces the period for the recovery of real property from fifteen years to ten years and, by deleting the exemption in favor of the state contained in § 34, makes the ten-year period uniformly applicable. This subdivision also replaces CPA §§ 31 and 32. The second paragraph of § 34, affecting a defense or counterclaim, is omitted; the problem is covered by the more general provision of § 203(d).
Subd (b) is derived from CPA § 33. The period has been reduced from twenty years to ten years and minor changes in language are made.
Subd (c) is derived from CPA § 46. The period is reduced from fifteen years to ten years and a number of language changes have been made.
Amendment History
Add, L 1962, ch 308, § 1, eff Sept 1, 1963; amd, L 1964, ch 388, § 1, eff Sept 1, 1964; L 1997, ch 436, § 150 (Part B), eff Aug 20, 1997; L 2015, ch 368, § 31, effective January 19, 2016; L 2021, ch 311, § 2, effective July 28, 2021; L 2022, ch 669, § 12, effective December 9, 2022.
Source & verification. Provision text, History, and Advisory
Committee Notes are reproduced verbatim from the Consolidated Laws of New York.
Last verified July 21, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: adverse possession statute of limitations New Yorkten year rule real property New Yorkstatute of limitations redeem a mortgage New York